“Fortunately, the Milk” by Neil Gaiman (Review)

Neil Gaiman’s effervescent book is perfect for new readers and story prompts.

Neil Gaiman‘s lively, short book, “Fortunately, The Milk,” is droll and moves faster than a freshet. It begins with a sorrowful boy and girl contemplating dry bowls of Toastios. When his father inquires why his children are not eating their cereal, they reply that they can’t.

“I don’t see why not,” said my father. “We’ve got plenty of cereal. there’s Toastios and there’s muesli. We have bowls. We have spoons. Spoons are excellent. Sort of like forks, only not as stabby.”

So things are off to a terrific start. The father is about to suggest eating the cereal dry, but then realizes that without milk, he cannot have his tea. So it’s off to the corner grocery.

While the children wait. And wait. And wait. (I know! How unusual, children waiting forever for a grown-up. Isn’t Gaiman brilliant at science fiction?)

Finally, the father returns. When his daughter requests an accounting for the time that’s passed, the father has a story that’s so extraordinary — it involves pirates, puncturing the space-time continuum, a Stegasaurus, science, a wumpire, and a bottle of milk that is surprisingly multi-tasking-friendly — that his children stare at him in disbelief when he finishes.

When they inform their father they don’t believe a word of his story, he shrugs. He can prove it, he says. Wait till you find out how!

“Fortunately, the Milk” by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins), $14.99, ages 8 and up